10/10/2025
Poverty as Foundation and Ego as Pillars — With No Focus Light at the Top
(“బిచ్చగాడి కోపం — The Anger of the Beggar”)
By Dr. Chandra Sekhar Puli
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The Story
There was once a small town where the buildings were uneven — some stood tall, others half-broken, and most never finished. Their foundations were made of clay, mixed with stones of poverty and patched with the hopes of survival. From these foundations rose pillars — thick, crooked, and restless — not of steel or marble, but of ego.
These were not the egos of achievement or success, but the egos of hunger, hurt, and humiliation.
Men and women who had never been taught peace, who grew up hearing only the sounds of fights and debts, built their worlds upon those pillars. Their education was not of books but of fear. Their inheritance was not of wisdom but of anger.
In that town, even a beggar at the signal demanded money not as a request, but as a right. If denied, he would scratch the cars — not for money, but to express his existence. That act was his rebellion against invisibility.
An unskilled worker would appear humble until questioned about honesty — then, the pillar of ego would shake violently, expressing revenge, deceit, or destruction. For them, ego was their only currency of self-worth.
The tragedy was that all these pillars had no focus light at the top.
No guiding lamp, no higher purpose, no enlightenment that could shine beyond themselves.
So, they stood tall in the dark — casting only shadows over others, never light.
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The Meaning Behind the Metaphor
1. Poverty as Foundation:
Poverty doesn’t only mean lack of money. It is the absence of emotional security, parental warmth, education, and self-discipline.
When a child grows up with no role models, their foundation is built on survival, not stability. They learn the language of defense before the language of empathy.
2. Ego as Pillars:
Ego then becomes the only structure they can raise — because it gives an illusion of power.
• The poor man’s ego hides his helplessness.
• The unskilled worker’s ego hides his inadequacy.
• The street mafia’s ego hides their hunger for recognition.
3. No Focus Light at the Top:
A pillar without light is directionless.
The focus light represents awareness, education, purpose, and conscience.
Without it, every structure — even a strong one — only stands to block others’ light.
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Patterns of Ego You Can Identify
1. Reactive Ego (Anger & Retaliation):
Triggered when questioned, corrected, or denied.
Pattern: Immediate outburst, blaming others, destructive acts.
Example: The beggar who scratches cars when refused alms.
2. Defensive Ego (Pretending Morality):
Pretends to be honest until transparency is tested.
Pattern: Overexplains, justifies wrong actions, manipulates sympathy.
3. Insecure Ego (Attention-Seeking):
Constantly craves validation; thrives on gossip or disruption.
Pattern: Creates chaos to feel powerful.
4. Dominant Ego (Mafia Mentality):
Controls through fear; forms groups to survive.
Pattern: Uses threats, influence, or deceit to mask weakness.
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Strategies to Understand and Neutralize Egos
1. Observe Before Engaging:
Don’t fight ego with ego.
The moment you mirror their behavior, you validate their perception of power.
Instead, listen, pause, and analyse their trigger.
2. Separate Person from Behavior:
Remember — ego is a symptom, not the disease.
The disease is insecurity. Once you understand this, your anger transforms into strategy.
3. Use Calm Authority:
In front of volatile ego, calmness looks like control.
Don’t react; respond structurally — through systems, legality, and documentation.
4. Build Transparent Systems:
Mafia-style egos thrive in opaque systems.
When every action is documented, audited, and verified, manipulation dies naturally.
5. Train the Observers Around Them:
Not everyone can change, but everyone can learn to recognise patterns.
Educate your team, your staff, and your circle —
how to spot toxic triggers, how to step back, how to keep records, how to stay ethical.
6. Channel Their Energy:
Some egos can be redirected.
Give them tasks that require responsibility and visibility — where pride can be transformed into productivity.
7. Focus the Light:
In a dark structure, you can either destroy it or install a light.
Your role, as a reformer, is to be that focus light —
to give direction to those pillars that otherwise stand blind and broken.
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The Reflection
When you look at societies built on poor foundations and loud egos, you realise —
they don’t need punishment; they need purpose.
They don’t need flattery; they need focus.
They don’t need sympathy; they need systems.
A beggar’s anger, an employee’s dishonesty, a group’s destructiveness — they are all signals of a society where light is missing.
If every institution begins to shine its own focus light — through education, fairness, and mentorship — the pillars will stop fighting for shadows and start carrying meaning.
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Moral:
“Ego stands tallest where education is shortest.”
“The only way to defeat darkness is not by breaking the pillar — but by lighting its top.”
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